Samuel Witwer
Samuel Stewart "Sam" Witwer (born October 20, 1977) is an American actor and musician. He has portrayed Lt. Crashdown in Battlestar Galactica, Davis Bloome in Smallville, and vampire Aidan Waite of the US/Canadian remake of BBC's supernatural drama series Being Human on Syfy in the US and Space in Canada. Witwer is also one of the only few actors to play two canonical characters in the Star Wars universe. He starred in the TV series Star Wars: The Jedi Path as Deak Starkiller. Witwer also was the body model for, and voiced main protagonist Galen Marek/Starkiller in the successful multimedia project Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. He's also done voice work as The Son & Darth Maul for Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Early life Witwer grew up in Glenview, Illinois, a small suburb outside of Chicago. He attended Glenbrook South High School, during which time he was involved in drama and theater classes, as well as being the lead singer of a high school band called "Love Plumber". He attended the Juilliard School for a time before moving to Los Angeles. Acting Witwer claims that his first on-screen credit was that of a Chicago Bulls commercial. He soon found himself in speaking roles on hit television series, such as ER. Witwer's first major role came in 1998 when he was cast as the series lead on Star Wars: The Jedi Path. He portrayed Deak Starkiller, a man thrust into the role of forming the Jedi order on a modern day Earth which is unknowingly in the control of a Sith Empire. in Star Wars: The Jedi Path. ]] Upon the end of Jedi Path, Witwer got a recurring role came in the form of portraying Lt. Crashdown on Battlestar Galactica, again co-starring with his Jedi cast mate Grace Park. Next he played Neil Perry on the Showtime series Dexter. Witwer also appeared as Private Wayne Jessup in the movie The Mist. From 2008 to 2009, Witwer was cast Season 8 of Smallville as Davis Bloome, a charming paramedic who struggles with a darkness within as he is the human camouflage of Doomsday, a character in the comics best known for being the only villain to have killed Superman. While Witwer played Davis, Doomsday was played by stuntman Dario Delacio. Although uncredited, Witwer also played the full-physical form of the show's version of Zod at the end of the Season 8 finale (while the role would later be played in Season 9 by British actor Callum Blue). Witwer's performance in Smallville was incredibly well-received, and he has stated that his experience on the show had opened more opportunities for him in the future of acting. Witwer made a cameo appearance in The Walking Dead as a dead (zombie) soldier in a tank in the Season 1 episode "Days Gone Bye" which reunited him with director Frank Darabont from The Mist. Witwer starred in the North American remake of Being Human. He played the role of vampire Aidan Waite. He voiced Ocean Master in the animated film Justice League: Throne of Atlantis for the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, replacing fellow Star Wars actor Steven Blum from Justice League: War. Roleplaying Games Sam is an avid player of both electronic games and pen-and-paper roleplaying games. This is a hobby that he has engaged in for years. He has been a frequent guest on the Podcast Order 66 and has expressed a love for all iterations of Star Wars roleplaying games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game (by West End Games) to Star Wars Roleplaying Game (by Wizards of the Coast) and to the current series of [[Star Wars Roleplaying Game (Fantasy Flight Games)|cross-compatible Star Wars roleplaying games]] by Fantasy Flight Games. Sam appeared in episode 19 of Geek and Sundry's Tabletop playing the Dragon Age roleplaying game. ''Star Wars'' career A lifelong Star Wars fan, Witwer happily accepted the role of Deak Starkiller in "Jedi Path", but William Walton Granger admitted that most of the cast felt disappointed that the series was set on Earth, and not in the main Star Wars universe. Pleased with his work on the show, Granger again cast Witwer to play a descendant of his character in a new game. Witwer provided both his voice and likeness for lead character Galen Marek/Starkiller (Darth Vader's secret apprentice) in the 2008 video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and 2010 sequel Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. He has since received much praise for his contribution to the role. Noting a gift for impressions, Granger hired him to also voice Darth Imperious (Emperor Palpatine) in both games. For Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Witwer had also vocally performed the Son in a three episode story arc (known as the Mortis trilogy) in Season 3 as well as the iconic Sith Lord Darth Maul in the Season 4 finale episodes and in four episodes of Season 5. He also lent his voice for Darth Maul in other projects such as the Star Wars: Episode I Brisk commercial as well as the Cartoon Network special Lego Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out. in Force Unleashed]] Sam attended The Clone Wars Season 5 Red Carpet Premier in Orlando, Florida on August 24, 2012 during Celebration VI along with some of his co-stars Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, Dee Bradley Baker, Tom Kane, Daniel Logan, Stephen Stanton and Ashley Eckstein, as well as Supervising Director Dave Filoni. During Celebration VI, he also had his own panel called Sam Witwer "The Maul Within" on August 26, 2012. In 2013, he attended for the first time the annual event, Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida for a three-day weekend and fans praised him for his roles in The Jedi Path, The Force Unleashed games and on The Clone Wars. References External links * * * Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:People from Glenview, Illinois Category:Male actors from Illinois Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:American male voice actors Category:American male video game actors Category:Science fiction fans